The Gamers Give Back Tour made a stop in the San Francisco Bay Area this past week at 3 hospitals – Stanford Children’s Hospital, UCSF Benioff Oakland and UCSF Benioff San Francisco.
Every time we make a stop, our team is impressed with the staff and inspired by the patients and their families who remind us why we’re continuing our mission to spread joy to children in hospitals everywhere. The stops we made in Northern California were certainly no exception.
The Child Life Specialists we met with were sharp, enthusiastic, and incredibly passionate about their work. We met Specialists who were new to their profession and others who have worked in their field for over 30 years! No matter their experience, each member of the staff we spoke with was supportive and excited about the GameChanger Mission.
AR and VR technologies were and will continue to be a large element during our tour visits. Interest has peaked across the board for these exciting new technologies and how they can be utilized in healthcare based environments and, as always, we’re happy to show the staff and patients the ropes!
At each facility, we had the chance to show off the AR/VR platform inspired by JJ Buschard that left Specialists amused and curious about how hospitals can adapt these new breakthroughs. At all 3 locations, different discussions took place on how GameChanger could help to supply innovative tech-based healthcare solutions for children everywhere.
We took tours of each facility, had many opportunities to view current capabilities in place at the hospitals, and had the chance to discuss what team members were hoping to add to their patient’s experience. These discussions are incredibly valuable as they help us identify needs and allow us to supply expert advice on VR solutions, many of which are presently available.
We also had the honor of meeting with Dr. Samuel Rodriguez, a doctor from Stanford Children’s Hospital, who created a solution to entertain children with engaging content while they move from the comfort of their room to undergo a surgical procedure. Dr. Rodriguez has made tremendous headway collaborating with his hospital and came up with VR head straps based off the same straps being used for welding masks as they are easily kept sterile. This has now become one of the many efforts we will be supporting moving forward.
As always, being able to meet patients and staff face to face is invaluable. During our visit to the 3 hospitals in the Bay Area we donated 300+ gifts to patients (Including Skylanders, Children’s books, and stuffed animal Hope monkeys) and supplied catered lunches to around 400 caregivers.
We couldn’t be more grateful to meet all of the staff and patients during our visits. To us, these are the real heroes and should and the reason we keep pushing to help kids across the world.
